Sydney Nano
Monthly Newsletter
September 2022
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Message from the DirectorAnother excellent month for the Sydney Nano community. I am pleased to see so many of our members receiving highly competitive funding and accolades for their innovative and translational research.
Last week, Sydney Nano held our September Town Hall. This event showcased the many research programs that Sydney Nano has to offer, and provided an excellent networking opportunity for our community. It was great to hear Prof Chiara Neto's success story that stemmed from her Sydney Nano funded Grand Challenge research ACWA - Advanced Capture of Water from the Atmosphere. We also announced several Sydney Nano awards at the Town Hall. We have awards aimed at undergraduate students, EMCRs, and those looking to commercialise their research, with more awards and schemes to be announced shortly. I am very excited to announce the imminent launch of NanoHealth 2.0, the second stage of our NanoHealth Network. NanoHealth 2.0 will have a strong focus on health issues that are accelerated by climate change, while also evaluating the tremendous impact that the health sector has on our global greenhouse emissions. If you are interested in being a cluster co-chair, please get in touch. Next month, I am looking forward to the Sydney Nano Annual Retreat. It will be an excellent opportunity for our leadership team to connect and strategise for the year ahead.
Professor Ben Eggleton
Director, Sydney Nano
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NanoHealth 2.0 NetworkThe NanoHealth Network was established in 2020 as a joint 2-year initiative of Sydney Nano and the Faculty of Medicine and Health. The second stage of this network, NanoHealth 2.0, will focus on health challenges that are being accelerated by climate change as well as the role that the health care sector plays in contributing to global greenhouse emissions. Read more about NanoHealth 2.0 here.
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Living Lab for Smart Sustainable ConstructionSydney Nano hosted an engaging Co-design workshop focused on developing a Living Lab for Smart Sustainable Construction, an initiative under Sydney Nano's Smart Sustainable Building Network. This event strengthened existing collaborations between The University of Sydney, industry, and other stakeholders in the built environment sector, and enabled new key relationships to form that will progress the field of net-zero building. Thank you to Prof Ben Eggleton and A/Prof Sandra Loschke for coordinating this event, alongside everyone who participated in the workshop.
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Meet the Author: Fengwang LiEarlier this month, Dr Fengwang Li gave a presentation entitled 'Catalysts and systems for CO2 electrolysis'. Fengwang is a Lecturer with the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Sydney whose research is focused on developing carbon-neutral energy processes. He is a co-champion of the Sydney Nano Grand Challenge project Solar Fuels. Watch the recording of his talk here.
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Picture of the Year AwardThe University of Sydney Nano Institute’s annual “Sydney Nano Picture of the Year” competition is back! We are looking for exciting and engaging images that tell the story of your Nano research. All interested candidates should complete the online form and submit their image to the Sydney Nano admin email
(sydneynano.admin@sydney.edu.au) by COB Friday 18 November for a chance to win $1,000. Images will be short-listed, and the final entries will be displayed at the Sydney Nano End of Year Town Hall on 29 November, where the winner and two runners-up will be decided by popular vote and presented with their certificate by the Director, Professor Ben Eggleton.
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Philanthropic Gift to Bacteriophage Nanorobot ResearchCongratulations to Dr Hien Duong who is the recipient of a generous philanthropic gift via the Advancement Team of $900,000 over 3 years from the Hooper Shaw Foundation to support her project on Bacteriophage Nanorobots. Bacteriophage Nanorobots provide an elegant solution that avoids antibiotic toxicity, enhances antibiotic effectiveness by localising at site and exploiting the natural synergy of properly chosen phage-drug combinations. This generous donation will support the hiring of 2 post-doctoral researchers who will assist in the preparation and conjugation of phages and therapeutic agents as well as in vitro and in vivo biological testing.
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ARC Future Fellowship Success!Congratulations to Prof Jun Huang and Prof Renae Ryan on being named Australian Research Council Future Fellows! The scheme funds mid-career researchers who are focused on finding solutions to key industry challenges. Jun (Faculty of Engineering) is working to produce high-value chemicals from renewable biomass resources. Renae (Faculty of Medicine and Health) is researching the function of the brain's membrane proteins. Read more here.
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ARC Grant Success!Congratulations to Prof Julie Cairney and Faculty of Engineering team members on being awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project Grant! This research project aims to determine how hydrogen affects the deformation behaviour of steel, known as hydrogen embrittlement, in order to develop alloys that can safely transport and store hydrogen. Read more here.
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ARC DECRA Success!Congratulations to Dr Arunima Malik and Dr Yi Shen on being awarded Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA). Arunima (Faculty of Science and SSB Network cluster co-chair) will be assessing climate risk for future food supply, and Yi (Faculty of Engineering) will research the effects of modulating protein phase behaviour for cell functions vs material development. Read more here.
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Usyd-MacDiarmid Workshop: Future computing - save the dateFollowing up on the success of joint Sydney Nano and MacDiarmid Institute virtual workshop that ran in June, we are now going to deep dive into two key research themes that emerged from the workshop where the two institutes share research interests and strategic vision. These are “Future computing” and “Smart materials”. We will run an in-person workshop this year in Sydney and next year in New Zealand on the first and second theme, respectively. Please save the date of 3-4 Nov, 2022 for the in-person joint Sydney Nano and MacDiarmid Institute workshop on “Future computing”. If you’re interested in participating, please contact A/Prof Girish Lakhwani (girish.lakhwani@sydney.edu.au). More information will follow in due course.
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4th International Symposium on Mechanobiology (ISMB)Sydney Nano will be co-hosting the 4th International Symposium on Mechanobiology (ISMB) with the Australian Society for Mechanobiology (AuSMB). The conference will take place at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub, The University of Sydney, Australia, 6-9 November 2022. More information can be found on the AuSMB website. There will be a number of ECRs / HDRs to be supported with the Sydney Nano AuSMB Award, which covers the conference registration fee. The application can be submitted via the online form by COB Mon 10 October.
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Prof Ben Eggleton named Academic of the Year
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Eureka Prize Winners for Interdisciplinary ResearchCongratulations to Dr Arunima Malik and co-workers from the University of Sydney on being awarded the 2022 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. Their research is focused on building advanced data modelling techniques to inform policy about food supply chains, food producers, and consumers. Watch their video here and read more here.
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Upcoming Events
Sydney Nano Events:
Other Events:
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Award & Grant Opportunities
Sydney Nano Awards & EOIs:
- Taste of Research Award: Open to all high calibre undergraduate students and valued at $2,500. Successful candidates will develop research skills, gain experience, and contribute to finding real-world solutions through a six-week full-time research period in early 2023. Applications close Sunday 13 November.
- TRL Booster Scheme: $20,000 funding and coaching by one of Sydney Nano's Deputy Directors for Industry, Innovation & Commercialisation for your invention to reach TRL 6 or TRL 7. Applications close Sunday 23 October.
- EMCR Development Node Program: Provides EMCRs with the opportunity to build and lead a multidisciplinary research team to gain practical experience in leadership and academic skills with coaching and training from senior colleagues over 12 months. EOIs must be submitted by Sunday 20 November.
- Picture of the Year Award: Submit your exciting and engaging images that tell us the story of your Nano research for the chance to win $1000! Please submit your image by Friday 18 November.
Other Award & Grant Opportunities:
- The Scopus Researcher Awards (ANZ) are now open, offering awards for excellence in Research Impacting a Sustainable Future, Women in Research, and Outstanding Early-Career Research. Applications close Friday 21 October.
- The University of Sydney 2023 Equity Prizes are now open. The Equity Prizes aim to improve gender balance in senior academic roles and support researchers with disabilities or with significant caring responsibilities to progress their research. Applications close Thursday 20 October.
- EOIs to join the Drug Discovery Initiative's ECR Committee are now open. More info here.
- Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) Worldwide offers summer research internships across the world to German undergraduate students. Research groups, laboratories, and doctoral students can apply to host a motivated and well-qualified student from Germany to assist with a proposed project. More information here (pdf, 420 KB). Project proposals close Saturday 15 October.
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In case you missed it...
- US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy visited Sydney Nano earlier this month
- Sydney Nano Director Prof Ben Eggleton was recently named Academic of the Year at the Australian Defence Industry Awards.
- Three talented Sydney Nano student researchers have been nominated as finalists in the University of Sydney's Student Innovation Awards 2022. Watch their videos and vote for your favourite here! Voting closes Thurs 6 October.
- The Sydney Nano Future Leaders Program held a training session on 'Intellectual Property and Commercialisation'. If you are interested in joining next year's cohort of Future Leaders, please contact Sydney Nano.
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Media Highlights
- Dr Arunima Malik was featured in a central Usyd article about the impact of climate change on linked systems.
- The Conversation reported Professor Manfred Lenzen, Professor David Raubenheimer, Dr Arunima Malik, Dr Mengyu Li and Navoda Liyana Pathirana – all from the Faculty of Science – won the Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research for their research into how what we eat impacts the environment.
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Member Publications- Bursill, C. A., Smith, N. J., Palpant, N., Tan, I., Sunde, M., Harvey, R. P., Lewis, B., Figtree, G. A., & Vandenberg, J. I. (2022). Don’t Turn Off the Tap! The Importance of Discovery Science to the Australian Cardiovascular Sector and Improving Clinical Outcomes Into the Future. Heart, Lung and Circulation.
- Das, C. M., Kong, K. V., & Yong, K.-T. (2022). Diagnostic plasmonic sensors: opportunities and challenges. Chemical Communications, 58(69), 9573–9585.
- Giaretta, J. E., Duan, H., Farajikhah, S., Oveissi, F., Dehghani, F., & Naficy, S. (2022). A highly flexible, physically stable, and selective hydrogel-based hydrogen peroxide sensor. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 371, 132483.
- Guan, X., Lei, Z., Yu, X., Lin, C., Huang, J., Huang, C., Hu, L., Li, F., Vinu, A., Yi, J., & Wu, T. (2022). Low‐Dimensional Metal‐Halide Perovskites as High‐Performance Materials for Memory Applications. Small, 2203311.
- Haidar, L. L., Baldry, M., Fraser, S. T., Boumelhem, B. B., Gilmour, A. D., Liu, Z., Zheng, Z., Bilek, M. M. M., & Akhavan, B. (2022). Surface-Active Plasma-Polymerized Nanoparticles for Multifunctional Diagnostic, Targeting, and Therapeutic Probes. ACS Applied Nano Materials.
- Hong, J. K., Ruhoff, A. M., Mathur, K., Neto, C., & Waterhouse, A. (2022). Mechanisms for Reduced Fibrin Clot Formation on Liquid‐Infused Surfaces. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2201360.
- Kilwing, L., Lill, P., Nathwani, B., Singh, J. K. D., Liedl, T., & Shih, W. M. (2022). Three-phase DNA-origami stepper mechanism based on multi-leg interactions. Biophysical Journal.
- Krishnan, G., Cousins, A., Pham, N., Milanova, V., Nelson, M., Krishnan, S., van den Berg, N. S., Shetty, A., Rosenthal, E. L., Wormald, P., Thierry, B., Foreman, A., & Krishnan, S. (2022). Preclinical feasibility of robot‐assisted sentinel lymph node biopsy using multi‐modality magnetic and fluorescence guidance in the head and neck. Head & Neck.
- Lai, C., Chadban, S. J., Loh, Y. W., Kwan, T. K.-T., Wang, C., Singer, J., Niewold, P., Ling, Z., Spiteri, A., Getts, D., King, N. J. C., & Wu, H. (2022). Targeting inflammatory monocytes by immune-modifying nanoparticles prevents acute kidney allograft rejection. Kidney International.
- Malik, A., Li, M., Lenzen, M., Fry, J., Liyanapathirana, N., Beyer, K., Boylan, S., Lee, A., Raubenheimer, D., Geschke, A., & Prokopenko, M. (2022). Impacts of climate change and extreme weather on food supply chains cascade across sectors and regions in Australia. Nature Food, 3(8), 631–643.
Ngo, G. Q., Najafidehaghani, E., Gan, Z., Khazaee, S., Siems, M. P., George, A., Schartner, E. P., Nolte, S., Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H., Pertsch, T., Tuniz, A., Schmidt, M. A., Peschel, U., Turchanin, A., & Eilenberger, F. (2022). In-fibre second-harmonic generation with embedded two-dimensional materials. Nature Photonics. - Peppou-Chapman, S., Vega-Sánchez, C., & Neto, C. (2022). Detection of Nanobubbles on Lubricant-Infused Surfaces Using AFM Meniscus Force Measurements. Langmuir, 38(33), 10234–10243.
Qiang, Y. L., Alexander, T. J., & Martijn de Sterke, C. (2022). Solitons in media with mixed, high-order dispersion and cubic nonlinearity. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 55(38), 385701. - Smith, N., Quan, D., Nagalingam, G., Triccas, J. A., Rendina, L. M., & Rutledge, P. J. (2022). Carborane clusters increase the potency of bis-substituted cyclam derivatives against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. RSC Medicinal Chemistry.
- Tang, R., Sun, H., Wang, L., Yang, W., Kochubei, A., Jiang, Y., Zheng, R., & Huang, J. (2022). Perovskite-Nanoparticle-Incorporated NH2 -MIL-125(Ti) Nanoreactors with an Optimal Conduction Band Offset for Visible-Light-Driven CO2 Reduction. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 10(36), 11939–11947.
- Turpin, G. A., Nelson, A., Holt, S. A., Giles, L. W., Milogrodzka, I., Teo, B. M., Raghuwanshi, V. S., Horn, R. G., van ’t Hag, L., & Tabor, R. F. (2022). Investigating Adsorption of Cellulose Nanocrystals at Air–Liquid and Solid–Liquid Interfaces in the Presence of Hydrotropes. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2200791.
Vega-Sánchez, C., & Neto, C. (2022). Slightly Depleted Lubricant-Infused Surfaces Are No Longer Slippery. Langmuir, 38(34), 10568–10574. - Wang, G., Lian, Q., Wang, D., Jiang, F., Mi, G., Li, D., Huang, Y., Wang, Y., Yao, X., Shi, R., Liao, C., Zheng, J., Ho‐Baillie, A., Amini, A., Xu, B., & Cheng, C. (2022). Thermal‐Radiation‐Driven Ultrafast Crystallization of Perovskite Films Under Heavy Humidity for Efficient Inverted Solar Cells. Advanced Materials, 2205143.
- Weaver, A., Firmer, G., Motion, A., O’Regan, J., O’Reilly, C., & Yeadon, D. (2022). Sounding Out Science: the Sonaphor and Electronic Sound Design as a Learning Tool in Secondary Science. Postdigital Science and Education.
- Wu, B., Zheng, H., Li, S., Ding, J., Zeng, Y., Liu, Z., & Liu, Y. (2022). Observation of moiré excitons in the twisted WS2/WS2 homostructure. Nanoscale, 14(34), 12447–12454.
- Zheng, J., Wang, G., Duan, W., Mahmud, M. A., Yi, H., Xu, C., Lambertz, A., Bremner, S., Ding, K., Huang, S., & Ho-Baillie, A. W. Y. (2022). Monolithic Perovskite–Perovskite–Silicon Triple-Junction Tandem Solar Cell with an Efficiency of over 20%. ACS Energy Letters, 7(9), 3003–3005.
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